Take My Tip

Bowie’s first original composition to be recorded, “Take My Tip” begins with faint promise: after a bass intro, Bowie starts singing in a mod-jazz style (the influence this time seems to be Georgie Fame). The word-choked lyric has the singer warning a friend to avoid some local femme fatale, but Bowie just comes off as a bit of a weedy creep. A sense of waywardness increases: guitars turn up (including Jimmy Page on rhythm) to muddy things; a sax doubles Bowie’s vocal for a few bars. All at once, without warning, something resembling a chorus is wedged in. The whole process is repeated once more for cruelty.

“Take My Tip” was also the very first Bowie composition to be covered by another artist, being recorded by Kenny Miller U.K. Stateside SS405 in April 1965. It’s fairly similar to the original, just a bit grittier.

This is another song that for some reason is misrepresented on the Early On compilation- the (arguably better) version on the album is not the original single but rather a demo version. The ACTUAL single has Bowie flubbing his own lyrics (going with “tiger who possesses the sky” in verse one and “bider (sic) who possesses the sky” in verse two rather than the correct version of the lyrics on the Early On demo (spider/tiger).